[conspire] Re: HELP - Can't Get Ethernet Card Working in Debian on Laptop

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Rick Moen (rick at linuxmafia.com):

>   $ dig -t mx INBOUND.MARKSREBNIKARCHITECT.COM.NETSOLMAIL.NET +short

This was a mistaken cut-and-paste on my part  (just in case it confused
anyone).  The actual command line was 

 $ dig  -t mx   marksrebnikarchitect.com  +short

(which means "Please tell me what type MX = mail exchanger records exist in
the DNS for marksrebnikarchitect.com -- and and report the results in
short format, without all the extra information of a full DNS query
report").



"dig" is a very cool tool for finding out about DNS information.
Examples:

"What are the namservers for the linuxmafia.com domain?"

  $ dig  -t ns  linuxmafia.com +short

  ns.on.primate.NET.
  ns.primate.NET.
  ns1.thecoop.NET.
  ns1.linuxmafia.com.
  ns2.linuxmafia.com.

"What does the first of those nameservers think is the IP address for 
the main linuxmafia.com host?"

  $ dig  -t a  linuxmafia.com  @ns.on.primate.NET  +short

  198.144.195.186

"Does the second nameserver agree with the first one, on that?

  $ dig  -t a  linuxmafia.com  @ns.primate.NET  +short

  198.144.195.186

"What's the reverse-DNS ('PTR') entry for that IP address?

  $ dig -x 198.144.195.186  +short

  linuxmafia.COM.

"Is there a type HINFO (host information) entry for that hostname?"

  $ dig  -t hinfo  linuxmafia.com  +short

  "P3/500" "Linux-v.2.4.24"

"Is there a type LOC (geographical location) entry for that hostname?"

  $ dig  -t loc  linuxmafia.com  +short
  37 25 53.825 N 122 11 52.128 W 15.00m 1m 10000m 10m

"Where is SMTP e-mail accepted for linuxmafia.com (where are its MX =
mail exchanger hosts), and in what order of priority?"

  $ dig  -t mx  linuxmafia.com  +short

  10 linuxmafia.com.

"Where is the master nameserver for linuxmafia.com's DNS, and what is
the DNS administrative e-mail contact?" 

  $ dig  -t soa  linuxmafia.com  +short

  ns1.linuxmafia.com. rick.deirdre.NET. 2006021500 7200 3600 2419200 259200

  (Those are the first two data items included in the SOA = Start of
Authority record, with the e-mail address's "@" symbol changed into a
period for arcane old-software reasons.  The other numbers are the
zonefile serial number and four timeouts.)


"How is authority delegated down from the root namservers for DNS
queries about domain linuxmafia.com -- by what path of delegation from
root to .COM to linuxmafia.com?"

  $ dig linuxmafia.com +trace +short

  NS M.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. from server 198.144.192.2 in 473 ms.
  NS A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. from server 198.144.192.2 in 474 ms.
  NS B.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. from server 198.144.192.2 in 474 ms.
  NS C.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. from server 198.144.192.2 in 474 ms.
  NS D.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. from server 198.144.192.2 in 474 ms.
  NS E.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. from server 198.144.192.2 in 474 ms.
  NS F.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. from server 198.144.192.2 in 474 ms.
  NS G.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. from server 198.144.192.2 in 474 ms.
  NS H.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. from server 198.144.192.2 in 474 ms.
  NS I.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. from server 198.144.192.2 in 474 ms.
  NS J.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. from server 198.144.192.2 in 474 ms.
  NS K.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. from server 198.144.192.2 in 474 ms.
  NS L.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. from server 198.144.192.2 in 474 ms.
  A 198.144.195.186 from server ns.on.primate.net in 103 ms.


It's very likely the primary tool used behind the scenes (along with
some scripted SMTP probes) by the ever-useful DNS report CGI at
http://www.dnsreport.com/ , which I also recommend.